Fast Company covered Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace report extensively this spring. This report found that 70% of workers are either "not engaged" or "actively disengaged." Perhaps more telling: Despite years of employee engagement programs and an industry of consultants working on this issue, this number hasn’t changed much since Gallup started asking these questions in 2000. A more recent Right Management survey found that 84% of employees either strongly or somewhat agree with the statement, "Sometimes I feel trapped in my current job and want to find a new position elsewhere."

Perhaps you’re thinking that such disengagement couldn’t happen in your organization. But here’s a different question you should consider answering first: How do you know if your employees really love you?

Many big companies do annual surveys, but Scott Ahlstrand, senior vice president for talent management at RIght Management, reports that he recently completed a global study of employee engagement programs and found that seven of 10 organizations said their program was "not achieving all the goals it was designed for." Organizations are "partying like it’s 1999." That’s the year the book First, Break All the Rules came out, which inspired a lot of corporate America’s obsession with engagement. Managers feel good because a survey exists, but too often organizations lack the discipline to do much about the results. "You don’t fatten the cow by weighing it every day," Ahlstrand says.

Fortunately, if you’re a manager in a larger organization, you don’t have to wait for the results of the big survey to figure out how your employees are feeling and what you should be doing about it—and if you’re running a smaller organization, such surveys may not be part of life anyway. Instead, this is "an opportunity for ‘emotional intelligence’—using your senses and intuition to observe employee behavior," says Cary Hatch, CEO of MDB Communications, an advertising agency in Washington D.C. She advises looking at your team members’ off-the-clock behavior. If people are invested beyond what’s in their job description, "they are likely to ‘bring something more’ to the firm than what’s required. Those things can be as homespun as showing up with homemade cookies at the weekly staff meeting or as significant as ‘I was thinking about the XYZ client problem, over the weekend . . . and here’s an idea I don’t think we’ve considered before.’ "

Engagement can also take the form of employees using their personal capital, "like offering up an introduction to their friends or family that can provide a valuable connection for your company," says Hatch. That is "a great gesture to an employer that says, Hey, I believe in you and what we’re doing, and I’m willing to put my brand at stake with people I care about in order to advance our mutual cause."

From years running her business, Hatch says she’s realized that "Bringing part of themselves (cookies, a six-pack, or homemade pie from their mom) or thinking and problem-solving on their own time likely indicates not just a desire to get ahead, but a genuine interest and investment in your company’s mission. Yes, it could be ‘sucking up’—but hey, we all know what that looks like. Authentic engagement is palpable. You know it when you see it."

A way to guarantee you’ll see it? Create a culture where communication happens in low-key ways all the time. ADG Creative, a communications agency in Columbia, Maryland, tries to encourage this by having a pub—with beers on tap—in the middle of the office. There’s coffee-making capability too, and the staff has breakfast together at 8:30 a.m. on Mondays and closes out the week with a happy hour that ends by 4 p.m. on Fridays.

"Nothing says I love you like a Guinness," explains Jeff Antkowiak, ADG’s chief creative officer. More seriously, "People act fundamentally different at a conference table than they do in a pub environment," and part of figuring out how people feel is having frequent low-pressure communication like you would with friends at a bar. Antkowiak likens it to the situation at his kids’ school, where he’s been on the board of directors for years. He helped to hire all the teachers. "We grew to be friends. We got together socially—and so at parent-teacher conferences, we never talked about my kids." That’s because "we talked all year long. We didn’t wait for parent-teacher conferences to check in on how the kids are doing."

That’s not to say the professional equivalent of parent-teacher conferences—annual reviews—can’t be part of assessing employee engagement. After a bad experience with a packaged review process, ADG developed its own system called You in Review. Employees fill out answers in little booklets to questions such as "What do you need to be awesomer?"—a quick way to figure out unmet employee desires—and "What’s the coolest thing you did for an ADG client this year?" That’s a quick way to figure out what sorts of projects most excite any given team member.

People were "surprisingly honest," says Antkowiak. The key is "building an environment where people aren’t afraid to talk."

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Wow, I'm very shocked FastCo. This article you've written really misses the mark andquite frankly, I don't know how much credibility I can give the publicationafter having read this and actually knowing the truth. Not sure how much actualresearch went into writing this but, as quite a few of the comments indicate,this is NOT an environment that practices what it preaches and honestly,shouldn't be promoted.

One thing to note before I continue, not all "former" employees aretrying to badmouth this agency. Everybody doesn't have an axe to grind. As aformer employee, let me explain that I'm only posting this so other candidateswho might stumble upon this fictitious story don't make the same mistakes I andso many others before me made.

ADG has a great recruiting sales team. We ALL fell for the new office, cool"Starbucks-like" cafe, and "beer with a buddy" sales pitch.The idea of Monday morning breakfasts to begin the week and 4pm Happy Hours toclose the week also appeared to be a good "team-building" tactic.Well, we soon found out that ADG is a place run by a heavy-handed, intrusive,non-trusting leader that doesn't have enough faith in the people he hires,which is why he's been known to take his creative teams' work home with him toredesign.

The question of tenure and turnover was mentioned in a previous post. To behonest, really good agencies don't have a ton of turnover. They are staffed byemployees who've been there for years and aren't planning on going anywhere. Ifyou're letting go of so many people after such a short period of time, theissue isn't in the people you're hiring, it's in the fact that you don't knowhow to hire in the first place. I've seen them hire many people only to letthem go after a very short time - sometimes as short as 4 weeks. Too short toeven judge someone's strengths and/or their weaknesses. I even witnessed themlet go of people they had just relocated. Many who stick it out are only doingso because they are under contract and would be penalized greatly if they wereto leave.

For those current employees that love ADG, good for you. You've found your wayin and have managed to stay away from the BS.

Admirable as it is, but the COO's wife coming to his defense is completely baseless as she's not an employee of ADG and doesn't know anything of whatgoes on there.

And lastly, the reason people choose not to leave their real name is because offuture retribution. Why do you think certain witnesses wish to remain anonymous.Don't give me this crap that just because people don't sign their name that itautomatically negates their experiences.

I, as a current ADG employee, also have a different viewthan the former employees.

It is no doubt true that organizations can run in a“business as usual 9-5 don’t forget your TPS cover sheet” mode but isn’t thatreally the worst scenario.

I am a builder at heart, I live to create and I have seen ona daily basis that ADG is a creative organization and seeks to not just deliverbut to exceed and innovate. Novelcreation, innovation, and creative evolution require continual changes inideas, approaches, and methods and even a little chaos at time. This creative evolution may happen seeminglyrandomly but it is part of a process to exceed the norm and is always putforward with noble intent.

I have seen individuals work long hours in response to a needor change but not every day or every weekend. More telling than the need forlong hours is seeing individuals easily take well-deserved vacations withoutdisrupting projects, a feat that shows the quality of the processes and team asa whole and rarer than one would expect in most organizations.

I have witnessed brilliant evolutions of ideas as teams andleaders collaborate, discuss, add, discard, and grow elements of a project. Ihave even seen leaders change their mind about an approach they prefer to onethat a subordinate has put forward because there is trust in the intent andcapability of the individuals.

I have participated and witnessed many creative dialogs withthe leadership around specific projects or any passion an individual may have,amazing conversations with genuine interest on both sides and impressivedisplays of intellect and insight.

I have seen the group and leadership appreciation of individualswho went the extra mile. Appreciation beyond buying a meal, having a drink, orsaying thank you…it is a real appreciation and respect for accomplishingsomething that most could not.

Thus I would say I am lucky to work with, learn with,converse with, and have a few drinks with a team (bottom to top, left to right,short to tall) that is easily worthy of respect and admiration.

I work at ADG. Clearly, the former employeesposting on this thread had bad experiences, and it makes me sad that there isso much bitterness, especially given that I most likely know you. Yourposts have also made me mad. Whatever your intent, the posts areoffensive to those of us who work here. We are not idiots, as your postsmost definitely imply, intentionally or not.

ADG has been nothing but supportive of me in my tenurehere, including those folks in the “glass hallway” that have been calledout. In fact, I have needed leadership support several times, and it isthe people in that “glass hallway” who come through for me time and again.

This story is about the ADG of now, and if you don’t workhere right now, then you don’t qualify to comment. I do. Myteammates do. My coworkers do. So I’ll tell you what makesthis a great workplace. Intent. Excitement. Cool products. But most of all… The people. Coworkers banding together as a team to getthings done. The people who actually WORK here, right now. Including that hallway. There are challenges. Of coursethere are. We choose to stay and help ADG evolve.

I just wanted to add that 'No Reply' is likely an current employee. While those who have left may have some complaints about ADG, but they are out of the picture and have moved on. There is nothing gained in looking back and throwing stones at this point. Additionally, a former employee that is that upset has no reason to hide their identity.

It's really a moot point who wrote it though. From reading the comments here, and those on Glassdoor. ADG sounds like it has amazing talent. The gripe seems to mostly be the working hours and not having some creative freedom. ADG should tackle these issues head-on and address them. Employees should be your most important asset, and turnover at ADG appears to be high. At some point, they'll be spending more money to get new employees up to speed than they are working on actual projects.

I recently watched a 2007 documentary called "Heckler" which offered various viewpoints on why people feel compelled to openly criticize other people. George Lucas actually makes a brief cameo appearance, and states that there are two types of people in the world—creators and destroyers—and he chooses to be part of the group of people who create.

It IS much easier to destroy something than to create something. Ask anyone who gardens... tearing out the weeds is sort of the easy part. But nurturing something from seed, ensuring that your soil is good, providing sunlight and water—all over the course of time—takes patience, passion, and commitment.

I work at ADG Creative. Alongside some of the most talented, passionate, funny, inspiring people I know. Like April says, we have our challenges. But we're committed to rolling up our sleeves and making something great over time. Why? Because we know the fruit of our labor is worth the effort, and we can look back one day with pride and say—WE DID IT.

I agree with April. I followed her here 4 years ago and am still VERY glad to work here for all the things she mentioned. My story is a little different, as I'm a contractor, not an employee, so maybe I don't feel all the pain, BUT I too have been here some late nights and I felt appreciated and supported in those efforts. I've also seen positive change here in the last four years and I think this small company is doing lots of great things and I'm thrilled to be a part of all of it... cool work, new ideas, fun parties, beer on Friday's, community spirit, spontaneous treats, great coworkers, new challenges, and people on the "glass hallway" that care and are trying.

ADG is the WORST place to work. Is this article a joke? Unless you like working nights, weekends, until 2am, until 5am and being on call constantly. Yeah, in this industry we work long hours, but NOT like this and NOT due to extreme inefficiencies and decisions changing at the last minute.

This is an abusive workplace and should not be celebrated. You will never see your family when you work here. But good news! Because ADG has beer and coffee and a gym and a cafe, you never have to leave! Why do you think all of those things are there? And it's not a good place to pay your dues as the concepts and fresh ideas usually are negatively impacted by the CCO/owners outdated input. It's a thankless job.

The article asks the question “How do you know if your employees really love you?” Ask almost anyone that truly knows about ADG Creative, and the answer will be a huge laugh followed by “oh, I’m sorry, was that a real question?” The breakfasts and bar sound neat and look cool when they show prospective employees around but this by itself does not create a positive work atmosphere. If you need further evidence of this, just check out the reviews on glassdoor.com. By the way, don’t let the positive reviews that are sprinkled in their fool you. It is well known by current and former employees that a majority of those were written at the direction of upper management.

The turnover is very high at this organization and would be even worse if it weren’t for contracts that some employees are locked into that punish them for leaving early. A college student interested in art toured the facility recently and was introduced to numerous people in each department. The first thing he said when asked how it went was “why does the tenure of everyone here seem so short?” It is also amazing how many people leave ADG without another job lined up.

Oh, and the quote from Jeff “building an environment where people aren’t afraid to talk” is just laughable.

As a former ADGer, trudging to mandatory breakfasts and happy hours was bullsh!t. This company constantly boasts of it's employee friendly behavior, but anyone, besides those in the Ivory Tower, or rather the glass walled executive hallway, cannot speak up without retribution.

I personally know several current and former employees, (labor slaves), who would love to answer the "What can make me awesomer?" with letter of resignation. ADG rules by fear, their Chief People Officer, Craig Van Brackle, is one of the worst people persons I have ever dealt with. Once you join ADG, you are roped into all their boasting activities like "Gumbo and Mistletoe", Happy Hour, and Breakfast.

It is a great place to learn about horrible office environments. If you want long hours, without much creative freedom, or just need to pay your dues, by all means, check out ADG. Do not, for one second, buy into this article. Jeff and Craig actively work on getting fluff pieces like this published when they need a hiring boost. If you dare interview, ask about work life balance and hour many hours are expected each week. Ask about why they cannot keep a CTO, Bryan Harris is set to depart Sept 5th. Why, if a company is so great, can they not keep good talent. Don't buy into the fluff.

It's easy to say what you want without having the courage to put your name on your post - speaks volumes for your character. I can only laugh about your comment regarding Craig VanBrackle. If he's the worst "people person" you've ever met, you need to get out more. Or be grateful you haven't met his wife. And I'm not afraid to leave my name.

Do you have a meaningful objective or purpose? Do you have the autonomy to figure out how to deliver an outcome? Are you measuring progress though a scorecard or published document? Do you provide regular updates?

Ask what you need to be engaged and you have the answer for your team.

My name is Matthew Harrington; I’m the co-author of Survival of the Hive: 7 Leadership Lessons from a Beehive. In the book we took a look at employee motivation and engagement. Here is what we came up with:

The CAMP model for motivation and engagement. The acronym stands forCompetency, Autonomy, Meaningfulness and Progress. It's easy to remember, but challenging to actually do effectively.

Getting your workers to "like" you is a little bit like how teenagers retrospectively feel after being given responsibility, boundaries and guidelines - it may not be sexy at first, but they recognize how it paid off in the long run.CAMP is the following:

It’s autonomy. Autonomy to go out and explore new things,make decisions on their own and be held accountability (own something i.e. aproject). Think of Google’s recently canceled 70/20/10 rule thatsupports this.

Its meaningfulness. One, is the company’s missionmeaningful to them (I suggest reading DharmeshShah’s recent post on this). Two, do they feel that they provide meaning tothe company – have they been told this (feedback, performance review,hi-fives).

And finally, are they seeing progress. I remember workingwith a young woman in an advertising firm who was absolutely great atgraphic design. She should have progressed faster than she did. Shestayed 3 years and when she didn’t see the progress that she expected (and shedeserved) she left. Millennials, perhaps more so than other generations,need to see they’re getting somewhere. Organizations would do well to have agame plan for succession planning and leadership growth so the workers have aclear expectation of where they can get to in 6 months, a year, 3 years andbeyond.

That’s my quick two sense – maybe it helps, maybe itdoesn’t. In any event, good luck!

Engagement is tricky. Just because someone brings in cookies or beer doesn't always signal an engaged employee. They may have strong connections to coworkers and a weaker connection to the company. I think that low pressure communication can be effective but I don't think you can always count on it being entirely open and honest. I think you need to spend personal and emotional capital in order to get honest responses. Be vulnerable. Tell the truth. Be real!